Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Rome - When in Rome do as the Romans

We arrived to Rome where we stayed a little longer, because this city has so much to offer!

Here are the highlights. Like all other busy places to visit, such as museums or must see sights, I would recommend to get your tickets online directly from the official website of each place, that way you skip the line and pay the real price.

Of course we visited Vatican City, whichas you might know, is its own country and it has its own regulations.

A must visit inside Vatican City is the Vatican museum. It has sculptures, paintings and historical artifacts from B.C from all over the world.

At the end of our visit to the museum, we got to see the Sistine Chapel which includes paintings by Leonardo Da'Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and other ... artists.

Frescos around the museum

Sistine chapel

Then we visited Plaza San Pietro (Saint Peter's Square), which has amazing fountains!

Also my name, Angelica, is all over the place! The east entrance of St. Peter's Square has my name, the arches as well and I even have water bottles with my name on them. I thought I might just stay here as it seems that I'm very popular! :)

This door was built around 1500 and it is called Di Porta Angelica after the Pope's name of the time.

Also in St. Peter's Square, you can get into St. Peter's Basilica which is beautifull, as it should be since is the church of churches!

I asked a couple nuns visiting the basilica about this door, and they said it's the Holy Door that gets taken down by the Pope every 25 years for every jubilee (last one was in 2000); however Pope Francis has decided to take it down this coming December 2015 as an extraordinary jubilee to represent changes and evolution. The door will stay open for a year and then it gets rebuilt again.

Apparently it used to be opened every 100 years since the year 1400, however it was moved to 50 and then to 25 years. Now it is said that the Pope is the only one that decides when it gets opened up.

The idea is that only the ones that have followed the commandments of God would be able to cross, out of devotion every one who gains the indulgence passes through that door. The door itself is way smaller than the other doors of the basilica, so she said only few will be able to enter. Also, there is a small box in the center that contains sacred relics.

Altar

Simply spiritual

There is a confesion area that has cabins for most languages, which is pretty cool as there are Catholics from all over the world visiting.

Priest praying and the sun's reflection happened to perfectly hit that side of the picture.

We also visited the Coliseum and the underground floors. A tour is the only way to get to the underground floors and also the upper floors. It was great! It was said that around 500 slaves helped out in every show that was held there, with around 50 beasts and only few torches. Plus sand coming down the platform. I cant imagine the madness of this place!

Also, the Romans used to have battleships in the mornings at the coleseum where they filled it up with water up to 2 meters. Then they would drain the water with a special system to have the gladiator fights in the evenings.

The fights were free, as each family had an entrance assigned to them that way people from a specific social level didn't get mixed up with other social levels. Basically poor up top and rich at the bottom.

Nothing better than to wonder around in the small streets of Rome that are full of plazas with bars, cafes, restaurants, shops and street artists all over, and of course tons of vendors selling anything you can imagine.

While walking is easy to find the Fontana Di Trevi, which is under restauration. I got to throw a coin into it last time I visited Rome (5 years ago) so I would come back, and here I was again. Even though there was no water in there and it was protected by a glass fence, people still threw coins in it, so we did too! ;) At least the workers could probably get free daily lunch with all the change they get. Oh well, maybe next time we will come back with the family.

Pantheon another amazing building, I believe this one is the most well keep of all, here is a picture of David (6.4 ft) by the door to give you and idea of how massive this thing is.